$10k in fines for underpaying worker

More than $10,000 in fines have been imposed after an ugg
boot retailer paid an overseas worker in Sydney just $8 an
hour.

Ever Australia Pty Ltd - which manufactures and sells ugg
boots and other products under the 'Ever UGG' brand - has been
fined $8500.

The company's operator and majority owner, Strathfield man
Yue Hua Liu, has been fined a further $2550.

The fines, imposed by the Federal Circuit Court, are the
result of legal action by the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Liu and Ever Australia admitted short-changing a Chinese
national $4222 over a period of just two months last year and
breaching pay slip laws.

The employee - aged in her late 20s and in Australia on a
417 working holiday visa - was paid just $8 an hour to staff pop-up
stores at shopping centres at Wetherill Park, Merrylands, Winston
Hills and Chester Hill in Sydney's western suburbs.

As a casual sales employee, she was entitled to more than
$22 for normal hours and penalty rates up to $32 an hour for
weekend work and up to $43 an hour for public holiday
work.

The Fair Work Ombudsman took legal action after the
employee lodged a request for assistance. The employee was
subsequently back-paid in full.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James says Liu and Ever
Australia had been put on notice in 2013 after three other
employees, including two on 417 visas, were paid just $8 an hour.
Ever Australia back-paid the employees more than $9000.

"The fact this employer chose to continue to blatantly
underpay entitlements even after receiving a warning is completely
unacceptable and the Court's decision sends a message that this
sort of conduct will not be tolerated," Ms James said.

Ms James says 417 visa holders are a strong priority for
the Fair Work Ombudsman and their wages and conditions are the
subject of a national Inquiry launched last year.

In her judgment, Judge Sylvia Emmett said the underpayment
of the employee was deliberate and there was a need to impose a
penalty that deterred others from similar conduct.

Judge Emmett said all employees working in Australia on
417 visas "are entitled to the full benefit of the Australian
workplace laws and are entitled to expect that they will be
properly treated by Australian employers".